Poker fever struck the land down under earlier this month, as the 2010 PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour reached its final stop for 2010 and Season 4 in the beautiful Australian city of Sydney. The competition was hard and plentiful but at the end of the marathon tournament it was Australian-born Jonathan Karamalikis sitting at the head of the final table and laying claim to the APPT Sydney title and over $450,000 in first place prize money.
The PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour is a series of televised poker tournaments which has just completed its fourth season. In a similar format to the better known European and World Poker Tours, the APPT has a number of stops in beautiful cities in the region, with each stop playing host to a major tournament. The prize pools are large enough to attract a strong showing from local talent as well as some veterans of the poker tournament circuit, and the action is broadcast on television for the fans to enjoy.
The Sydney stop was the last stop in the fourth season of the APPT, and ran from December 7th until December 12th. 289 players turned out for the event, which cost $6000+$300AUD to enter, although a fair few players sitting around the table probably won their seats at the many satellites PokerStars hosted online prior to the start of the tournament. The prize pool came in at over $1.7 Million AUD and no doubt generated a lot of further action at the tables of the Star City Casino, where the Grand Final was being hosted.
Jonathan “MONSTER_DONG” Karamalikis has enjoyed a fairly successful poker career, but will nevertheless definitely be extremely pleased with his performance at the APPT which, in addition to spreading his superbly chosen screen name around, netted him his largest ever tournament cash and brought his career tournament winnings to over $750,000 USD. Karamalikis is a Full Tilt Pro who before this even was best known for another win on home soil, namely shipping the 2010 Aussie Millions $1500 No Limit Hold’Em Bounty Event earlier this year. He was up against a tough final table which included the incredibly famous Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu among other notable pros, but as play got down to heads-up it was a fellow Australian sitting across the table.
Would be runner-up Ben McLean qualified for the tournament via one of the aforementioned PokerStars satellites, and he held his own until just two players remained. The two seemed evenly matched and the chip lead was traded often throughout the two hours that it took before McLean was eliminated, after being crippled when Karamalikis turned the nut flush and was paid off by top pair top kicker. A very small number of hands later the money went all-in preflop and Karamalikis found himself holding pocket fives against McLean’s Ace Six suited, and the board was no help to either playing, crowning Karamalikis APPT Sydeny Grand Final champion.